President Biden has called on congress to move quickly in passing the Equality Act to make LGBTQ rights human rights.
The legislation has lingered for years after being introduced by Democrats David Cicilline and Jeff Merkley to the House of Representatives.
Biden said in a statement,
“I applaud congressman David Cicilline and the entire Congressional Equality Caucus for introducing the Equality Act in the House of Representatives yesterday, and I urge Congress to swiftly pass this historic legislation.
Every person should be treated with dignity and respect, and this bill represents a critical step toward ensuring that America lives up to our foundational values of equality and freedom for all.
Full equality has been denied to LGBTQ Americans and their families for far too long.
Despite the extraordinary progress the LGBTQ community has made to secure their basic civil rights, discrimination is still rampant in many areas of our society.
The Equality Act provides long overdue federal civil rights protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, locking in critical safeguards in our housing, education, public services, and lending systems — and codifying the courage and resilience of the LGBTQ movement into enduring law.”
The Equality Act provides long overdue federal civil rights protections for LGBTQ+ Americans, preventing discrimination in our housing, education, public services, and lending systems. I urge Congress to swiftly pass this historic legislation.
— President Biden (@POTUS) February 19, 2021
The Equality Act would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in housing, employment, public education, and a number of other areas.
Cicilline and Merkley announced that the Equality Act had been reintroduced to the House on Thursday.
“In 2021, every American should be treated with dignity and respect.After so many years of waiting for full LGBTQ equality, the time as come.”
In 2021, every American should be treated with dignity and respect. After so many years of waiting for full LGBTQ equality, the time has come. #EqualityAct
— David Cicilline (@davidcicilline) February 18, 2021
It was passed by the House in 2019 by a vote of 236-173, but was never even brought for a vote in the Senate, which was under Republican control.
Now that Democrats have effective control of both chambers, the hope is that the legalisation will be passed swiftly, in accordance with Biden’s pledge to enact it within his first 100 days.
Vice President Kamala Harris has the ability to cast a tie-breaking vote in the Senate if the bill gains exactly 50 votes, but one Democrat, West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, has previously declared his opposition to the bill.
Manchin declined to support the legislation, citing insufficient guidance on
“students transitioning between genders in public schools.”
To make matters worse, 60 votes would be needed to override a likely GOP filibuster effort unless Democrats succeed can abolish the filibuster.
Conservative Democrat Kyrsten Sinema is against the bill, but has not stated why. Perplexing, as Sinema has previously identified as bisexual.
You can contact Sen. Sinema’s office here.
Update: WOW received an email (I’m not sure who this person is?) saying that this post was incorrect, and that Sinema supports the Equality Act but was against the filibuster.
It seems WOW REPORT readers have been calling her office.
But this is semantics. Political dodgeball. Sinema being against the filibuster but being FOR The Equality Act is like Mitch McConnell aquiting Trump and in the next breath condemning him. Or claiming you’re a vegetarian but owning stock in Tyson.
You can’t have it both ways, Krysten.
(via Pink News)
